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Markets, energy and other enlightening subjects.

November 27, 2016

The 10 Cheapest Gas Suppliers In The UK

For the UK energy consumer, that’s what finding your cheapest gas tariff can feel like, due to the volatility of energy prices. To make things even more difficult, many “smaller” suppliers have entered what is an already crowded marketplace, able to offer cheaper tariffs due to smaller overhead costs than their more established counterparts.

Customers who swapped energy supplier paid £240m over the odds for their gas and electricity this year because energy companies take so long to process switches. Despite Ofgem and suppliers committing to a maximum switching time of three days by the end of 2014 and next day switching by the end of 2018, the average time to change energy supplier is still 17 days, nearly five times the target, according to research from energy switching service Flipper.

This winter, British switchers will lose out on a potential £91m (£25/household) due to slow switching by energy companies

Flipper, the energy personal assistant, has calculated that customers who swap energy supplier this winter will pay £91m (£25/ household) over the odds for their gas and electricity because energy companies take so long to process switches. Flipper is calling on energy suppliers to refund customers who are currently losing out.

The humble 'energy tariff rollover' is, despite lesser fame than its namesake, important to discuss because it causes a whole heap of confusion, and could be resulting in huge sums of money being lost via overly high bills. From our experience with customers, we can see in some cases it is needlessly putting people off changing their suppliers to a better deal by damaging trust.

The Flipper Challenge and why the argument over energy price comparison sites is missing the point

The infographic shows the results of a short piece of customer research carried out by Flipper to look at how customers use energy comparison sites, how long it takes them and whether they are any good at it.

As Steve Jobs once said, “The most precious resource we all have is time”, so it’s important we use it wisely. Flipper is all about saving you time and money so you can focus on the things in life that actually matter, so we’ve compiled a list of 5 useful apps to help you do that.

The latest round of energy industry fines was doled out to Scottish Power this week to the tune of £18m. The supplier racked up over a million complaints in the 18 months up to December 2015. What if customers had an easy, reliable way to leave a supplier that they were having a bad experience with, rather than escalate their complaint to Ofgem?

Nobody likes bills. According to new research from Uswitch, energy bills are particularly despised.
Two years ago, Ofgem forced energy suppliers to include labels, simple language, and key information onto our energy bills. This was supposed to make the bills friendlier and easier to read, encouraging more of us to shop around.

Ronald Reagan was the king of one liners. He once famously said the most terrifying nine words in the English language were: "I'm from the government and I am here to help".
Reading the Competition and Markets Authority’s report yesterday on how to fix the energy market we can start to see why he felt this way.

Last week concerns emerged about the relationship between AgeUK and EOn when it was revealed that AgeUK had received substantial commission payments for switching customers energy supply to EOn. The press questioned whether the commission payments lead AgeUK to promote EOn deals even when they were more expensive than other offers.

The way energy is being sold is misleading. We’ve just gotten used to it. It’s strange that the issue hasn’t received more attention. Consumer energy has a strange quirk in how vendors talk about prices and savings. The effect is that households are regularly misquoted and end up in the wrong deal.

Price comparison websites have sung and danced their way into our lives over the last 20 years. A close look at their business model gives interesting insights into the reasons why consumers and regulators are now starting to question them.

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Flipper

Flipper's mission is to ensure nobody overpays for energy again. We’ve made the tedious and complicated process of energy switching hassle-free for our customers. Flipper serves customers across the UK and has offices at 45 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3LQ.

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